Dumbledore's Boggart
by Razzle
Summary: A boggart's on the loose in the halls of Hogwarts! Two first year students, Albus Dumbledore and Florinda Flutterworth, resolve to be the ones to catch it when no one else can. But can they do it, and what is Albus so afraid of?


Albus' face was nearly white as a sheet as he sank into one of the large armchairs of the Gryffindor common room. He wasn't alone in feeling shaken - his fellow Gryffindor students, especially the other first-years such as himself, buzzed around the room worriedly chattering about the monster that was running loose in the halls of Hogwarts.

"All right, listen up all of you," Bluster Hornwallsby said. As the current Gryffindor Quidditch captain and a fifth-year student, he seemed to be taking it on himself to bolster the courage of his housemates. "It's just a boggart, nothing to get all worked up over. Remember, there are very few known deaths associated with boggarts - and even those were only the result of accidents caused by blind panic on the part of the poor wizards who saw one. Don't forget, we're in Godric Gryffindor's House! It's _our_ job to be brave and set a good example for the other three Houses." Apparently feeling his job was done, Bluster gave a few firm, encouraging nods to the gathered students and headed up the winding staircase to bed.

Most of the rest of the students followed, some sooner than others, and eventually the room was nearly empty. That left just Albus and his friend Florinda Flutterworth, another first-year student, in the common room. Florinda's father owned the well-renowned candy store, Flutterworth's Fancies, in Hogsmeade. That was how Albus had gotten to know her, as a matter of fact. He had always had an insufferable sweet tooth, and in their first months of the school year, he had had a few misadventures tagging around after her and pestering her for a taste of the newly invented sweets her father sent her to try before they hit the shelves of his store.

Florinda flopped into the armchair facing the one Albus still sat in. "I suppose the teachers will have to catch that boggart sooner or later," she surmised.

Albus looked at his friend thoughtfully, his brow wrinkling slightly. "You sound almost disappointed," he pointed out.

"I do, don't I? You know," Florinda went on, lowering her voice as she leaned forward with an eager glint in her eyes, "I think it would be awfully exciting to catch it ourselves. Liquorice louse?"

"Yes, thanks," Albus said immediately, reaching out with cupped hands to catch one of the leaping bits of candy from the little box Florinda held out.

"Well?" Florinda asked impatiently. "What do you think?"

"Hmm," Albus said thoughtfully. After several moments of consideration, he gave his thoughts on the matter. "A bit hard to chew. It keeps leaping around in my mouth."

Florinda rolled her eyes and stamped her foot (which was a bit hard to do while in a plush chair, but she managed). "Not the candy, Albus! The boggart! You think we could catch it, don't you?"

"What?" Albus yelped, then clapped a hand over his mouth to stifle the shout of surprise. More quietly, he continued nervously, "I thought you were _joking!_ Us? Catch a boggart? Are you completely mad?"

"Scared?" Florinda retorted promptly. At Albus' silence, she frowned. "You are, aren't you? Me too. But didn't you hear what old Hornwallsby said? Where's your Gryffindor courage, Albus?"

"Ah..." Albus hedged. He was wondering that himself. For the first time, it occured to him to doubt the sorting hat's choice - just a bit. "And if I am?" he asked, feeling a little defensive and pretty embarassed. After a pause, he went on quietly, "I've seen one before, you know."

"Really?" Florinda asked, her eyes suddenly alight with interest at that.

"Well, it's nothing to be excited about," Albus responded in slight irritation, fiddling with the front of his school robes. "Have you any idea what it's like to be confronted with nothing less than your very worst nightmare?"

* * *

The next morning, they had Herbology with Hufflepuff. As always, Albus took the spot next to his friend Elphias Doge, who had been sorted into Hufflepuff. Despite being in separate Houses, the two had been friends from their first day of school.

"Did you hear it got into the kitchens last night?" Elphias asked his friend in a low voice. "Gave the poor house elves a terrible fright, it did."

Albus nodded. "Too bad it got away again." The frightened house elves had been apparating and disapparating all over the kitchens, and what with all the banging from that, as well as the rest of the general commotion, the boggart had managed to slip off. Besides which, house elves could be hard to understand at the best of times, so the professors hadn't been quite sure what forms exactly the boggart would have been taking to frighten them all.

"Good morning, class," Norian Filch, the Herbology professor, greeted the students as he entered the greenhouse, carrying a small wooden crate. His smile always resembled more of a painful grimace, and never failed to frighten the students the first time they met him. By this late in the year, however, even the first-years were used to him. "Professor Weasley of Defense Against the Dark Arts was good enough to loan me some of her Hinkypunks, and today, we will be learning which marsh plants are best for attracting and repelling them. Don't worry, they're mostly harmless unless frightened. But be careful with them, and no swatting! They are very fragile creatures."

Professor Filch opened the crate, and the Hinkypunks spilled out, scattering through the greenhouse in a matter of seconds. Soon, the students had paired off - Albus and Elphias being a team together, of course - to try to find and observe the tiny, lanturn-bearing creatures. Elphias carried a blank notescroll and quill, while Albus had his wand out for any charms that would help them fix on a Hinkypunk's exact location.

"You're awfully good at this - finding them, I mean," Elphias said. "If you were a little better on a broomstick, no doubt you could try out for Seeker."

Albus smiled ruefully at that. He still remembered their first broom lesson - he'd somehow managed to get himself stuck riding around completely upside down for most of the time. It had actually been kind of fun, once you got over how unnerving it was to have ground above and sky below. Even now, with some intense coaching by Elphias, Albus' broom skills were merely passable.

"That's right," Florinda piped up, popping her head around the large shrub the boys had been looking at. "I'll bet you could find just about _anything_, if you wanted to," she added with a pointed glance, then she and Levinthia Baker moved on to another plant.

"And just what was all that about?" Elphias said, turning to Albus with a raised brow. "She lost her mind and needs your help finding it, does she?"

Albus had to suppress a laugh at that, although the situation as a whole still frightened him. "Maybe so," he whispered. His tone turned serious, however, as he went on, "She wants us to try and catch the boggart."

"No!" Elphias whispered back, aghast. "Well, if any student could do it, I'd believe it of you, though. The professors certainly aren't having much luck."

Albus shrugged uncomfortably by way of answer. He had to consider his friend's words, however. It was true that the boggart had been giving the Hogwarts professors the slip for a couple days now. _Besides,_ Albus thought to himself, an excited, nervous sort of resolve forming somewhere between his heart and the pit of his stomach, _wouldn't it be better to face it deliberately, when I can be prepared, than to run into it sometime and be taken by surprise?_

* * *

"Really? You'll do it? Oh, I knew you would!" Florinda said excitedly, clapping her hands. Of course, the other Gryffindors seated near them at the long dining table paid them no mind, being too engrossed in their own conversations. "Don't worry, once we find it, I'll be the one to face it down. I've been practicing my _riddikulus_ spell."

Albus nodded, relieved, and reached for a second helping of treacle pudding. "All right, then," he said. "Where do we start?"

"Hmm." Florinda considered that. "You know, I hadn't thought of that. Well, why don't we start outside the library and look from there? We'll have to wait till everyone's asleep, of course - but that way, if a Prefect catches us, we'll just seem to be trying to sneak into the restricted section to look up advanced spells or something."

"Let's not wait," Albus said impulsively, leaning across the hard wooden Gryffindor table. "We'll be less suspicious bumbling around the castle during the daytime, and that's probably when the boggart would be out, too, looking for someone to scare."

"Good idea!" Florinda agreed over a spoonful of her own pudding. "We'll start right after we finish supper. Good thing I brought this with me - I wanted to show it to you in any case." Reaching under the bench where she sat, Florinda withdrew a large wooden breadbox and held it up for Albus to see. "To catch it in, you know. When they're not scaring someone, boggarts like to hide in small, dark places. They're kind of like cats that way, I suppose."

"That should work just fine," Albus said approvingly. "I expect it should be easy enough to coax it in there. Well, _easy_ may not be the right word..."

"You worry too much," Florinda said airily, waving away his concern with one hand. "It's just one little boggart. Finding it's the trouble, so once we do how hard can it be to catch it?"

"Perhaps you're right," Albus sighed uncertainly, stirring his pudding around on his plate.

"Of course I am!" Florinda assured him confidently. "Now hurry up and finish your dessert. I can't wait to get started looking!"

Reluctantly, Albus did so, and then the two were off. As Florinda had suggested, they started out by the school library and worked from there. A few trips up and down the shifting staircases later, Albus was beginning to wonder if they would manage to find the boggart at all.

"Let's try this way," Florinda said stubbornly, pointing down a hallway. Clearly, she was beginning to doubt their success as well, but did not seem ready to admit defeat just yet.

"Very well," Albus agreed. Several moments later, Albus stopped and turned to Florinda. "Did you... hear something?"

"I'm not sure," Florinda admitted. "Do you think it's coming from up ahead?"

Before Albus could answer, they heard a shrill, ladylike, and rather helpless scream from further along the hallway.

"The Damsel in Distress!" Albus realized, remembering that that particular painting hung farther on ahead. "Let's go!"

The two students broke into a run, and soon arrived on the scene. The Dragon in the portrait had turned tail and was hiding as best as he could in his little cave, although his shivering tail and hindquarters still stuck outside. The Damsel, dressed in a frilly pink outfit complete with a cone-shaped hat to match, had her hands clasped together in front of her and was wailing, "Oh, help! Somebody help me! Art thief! Art thief!" Lo and behold, before the painting stood what had to be the boggart, in the form of just that and making as though to try and remove the picture from the wall. Of course it had no real interest in stealing the painting; it merely wanted to frighten the Damsel and Dragon.

"Quick! Get ready, Albus!" Florinda cried, throwing the open breadbox to the floor and pulling out her wand. Attracted by the shout, the boggart turned away from the painting.

As Florinda raised her wand, the boggart took on the form of a tall man in Colonial American attire. He held a piece of rope in one hand - a noose, Albus realized. "Witch!" The boggart snarled, its face twisting unpleasantly, and it raised a hand to point an accusing finger back at Florinda.

A terrified whimper escaped Florinda's lips, and her wand shook. "N-no..." she squeaked, her eyes wide and fixed on the boggart, and her face draining of its color. "Ri... ridiku..." Although her mouth continued to work desperately, no other sound came out, and Florinda seemed completely rooted to the spot.

Remembering something Florinda had told him, Albus put it together. This was a Salem witch hunter, such as had persecuted Florinda's great aunt, along with other witches - not to mention a great deal of muggles as well - back in the early 1690's. Similar had happened throughout Europe up until about the same time, of course, but Florinda's own family history would explain the American clothing. Although her great aunt had - barely - escaped with her life, it was really not at all surprising that Florinda would be so terrified by the boggart's form. However, she had clearly not been as prepared as she had thought she would be to come face to face with it.

"You there! Over here!" Albus called out, with no thought other than to draw the boggart away from his friend.

Albus nearly froze himself when the boggart turned to him. Almost immediately, it shifted its form, towering easily above the frightened boy, and flattening out into a rough oval shape. Albus could not bring himself to look straight at the center of it, but as he watched, an ornate gold frame formed, bit by bit, around the edge, and the words he dreaded appeared at the top:

"_Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi._"

He knew well what could happen to a wizard who dared face the reflection in the Mirror of Erised - and with all that had happened to his family even so far in Albus' young life, he was afraid of what he would see in the smooth glass. He could be trapped forever in the illusion that his sister was all right - that his father was still with the rest of the family, having not been sent off to Azkaban branded a 'Muggle Hater' - that Albus himself had not had to face the ostracization of the other students at Hogwarts for it - that his mother was still the warm, friendly witch he remembered, and not the withdrawn, anti-social woman she had become.

Yes, the Mirror of Erised terrified Albus Dumbledore. In the very depths of his heart, he wished that the only thing he might _have_ to wish for would be nothing more than a warm pair of woolen socks. Albus shook his head sharply, casting aside the unwanted thoughts. He had a job to do. Facing the boggart straight on, he lifted his wand and pointed straight at its center.

"Riddikulus!" Albus bellowed, finding a strength of voice the quiet boy hadn't known he possessed - and it was ridiculous, really. What was he afraid of, after all? A mirror? It was just a piece of glass with a fancy frame. It had no teeth or claws, it wouldn't come jumping at him, and he could look away _at any time he chose!_

With a terrified squeak, the boggart scuttled backwards into the open breadbox. Florinda raced for it and slammed the box closed, trapping the monster inside. "_Colloportus!_" she said breathlessly, pointing her wand at the latch to lock it shut. "We did it, Albus!" she said triumphantly, looking up at him. "_You_ did it!"

Attracted by all the noise, a startled group of professors rounded the hallway corner to find them. Of course, a horde of students was just behind. "Did I hear you say you caught it?" Professor Flamel, the potions master and head of Ravenclaw House, asked in eager amazement.

Somehow, Albus managed a weak nod, realizing his wand was still levelled at the spot the boggart had been moments before. He blinked a few times and finally took a deep breath. _Everyone must face their deepest fears sometime, I suppose,_ he thought as he slowly lowered his wand. _That's the only way to find out that fear is all it really __is__._


End file.
